LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 21, 2010) - The ETSU men's tennis team got off to a solid start to the ITA Ohio Valley Regional by earning several victories on Thursday at the University of Kentucky.

In doubles, the ETSU team of Robin Akser (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden) and Juan Ramirez (Asuncion, Paraguay) had a first round bye in the qualifying doubles bracket. The duo then defeated the Eastern Kentucky team of Verma/Pons 8-3. Akser/Ramirez will advance to the main draw and take on the Louisville team of Childs/Carter tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Ramirez also had a successful day in singles action as he defeated Derek Carpenter of Ball State 6-0, 5-7, 6-3. Then, he knocked off David Salazar of Lipscomb 6-4, 6-2. With the victory over Salazar, Ramirez advances to the main draw to take on Bobby Deye of Xavier, tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Jeremy Bonnevalle (Keerbergen, Belgium) got off to a nice start on Thursday after defeating Colton Norton of Tennessee 6-1, 6-1, in qualifying singles. Bonnevalle then defeated Nick Volz of IUPUI in the second round 6-4, 6-4. Bonnevalle will join Ramirez as a qualifier to the main draw and will take on Charlie Jones of Vanderbilt tomorrow at 4 p.m.

The tournament features a 44-player singles qualifying round, advancing 11 players to the 64 player singles main draw. The tournament, which is played entirely indoors, will also feature a doubles qualifying round that will result in six doubles duos advancing to the doubles main draw.

The first round of singles and two rounds of doubles play will take place on Friday. On Saturday, action will move solely to the Lexington Tennis Club with the doubles quarterfinals, singles round of 32, round of 16 and the singles consolation rounds. The event will move back to UK's campus Sunday with the doubles semifinals, singles quarterfinals, semifinals and the conclusion of the singles consolation. Both the singles and doubles finals will be played at UK on Monday. All time are ET and subject to change.